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Feathers McGraw is a silent yet villainous penguin who first appeared in the film The Wrong Trousers as its main antagonist, making him the first true antagonist in the Wallace & Gromit franchise. He is a nefarious criminal mastermind and bird of many faces; long thought to be a chicken, Feathers was actually exposed as a penguin, when his plan to rob a museum of a precious diamond was foiled by Wallace and Gromit. He wears a red rubber glove on top of his head, which is how he disguises himself as a chicken. This is apparently enough to fool Wallace on two separate occasions, as well as the local law enforcement.
Similarly to Gromit, Feathers does not express himself with spoken words, but his facial expressions and body language speak volumes. His name is revealed at the end of the film in a newspaper headline that says "Feathers McGraw back inside".
He would return to enact his revenge in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, using Wallace's inventions of Norbot and his minions against him.
Appearance
Feathers McGraw is an Adelie Penguin whose body shape resembles a bowling pin. He's mostly covered with black feathers, save for his belly which is covered in white feathers instead. He has a stout, conic beak, webbed feet and his legs are longer than common penguins', allowing him to move freely without waddling.
When he undergoes his criminal persona he places a red rubber glove on his head, the fingers of the glove making it look like a chicken's crest.
Personality
Feathers McGraw may appear as a harmless, if slightly unnerving, individual, yet his sharpened mind more than compensates for his small size and lack of physical strength. He is contentious, suave, manipulative and pragmatic. He is able to assess others quickly to get into their heads and can manipulate them to enable daunting circumstances to come out in his favour. He tends to keep his wits about him and maintain his concentration when performing elaborate tasks, even during intense episodes of anxiety and rage. He never allows his emotions to hinder his steady deliberation or to cloud his judgement. He clearly possesses some sociopathic traits as he has no problems taking hostages or attempting to pistol down anyone he perceives as a thorn in his side. His technological prowess is fairly impressive, as he retrofitted the techno-trousers with a remote control, and his intelligence is almost parallel to Gromit's. As a nearly flawless tactician, it takes an experienced genius to outwit and subdue him.
History
The Wrong Trousers
Feathers McGraw first appears as a guest at Wallace and Gromit's house, having been attracted by the "Room to Rent" sign. He is given the spare room by Wallace, but disliking its state instead takes over Gromit's room, to the latter's displeasure. He takes a particular interest in the Techno Trousers that Wallace gave Gromit for his birthday. That night, loud music from his radio keeps Gromit up, but he does not turn it off until he comes back to the house late at night.
The next morning, the penguin prevents Gromit from using the bathroom for his morning routine, only to appear while Gromit is eating breakfast to give Wallace his slippers and circumvent Gromit giving his owner the newspaper, winning Wallace's favour and causing him to pay more attention to him rather than Gromit. Bitter and rejected, Gromit leaves home. However, this was actually Feathers' plan all along, and he uses the opportunity to take the Techno Trousers and modify them for his own purposes.
The next morning, Wallace finds his normal pants replaced by the Techno Trousers, with the controls on the front modified by Feathers so that he can control it remotely. Feathers sends Wallace on a madcap run around town in the trousers with the goal of tiring him out. Gromit spots a wanted poster with a penguin similar to Feathers disguised as a chicken, and noticing Feathers in control of the trousers, starts tailing the penguin. As Gromit watches, Feathers heads to a museum and starts taking down careful measurements. He seems to spot Gromit watching him from inside a box, but brushes it off. At home, Gromit enters his old room to find Feathers has already pasted fish-themed wallpaper. On a desk, Gromit discovers Feathers' true plans: to steal the diamond on display at the museum. Arriving at home, Feathers dons his chicken disguise and activates the trousers, using them to transport him and a sleeping Wallace to the museum.
Using the trousers' vacuum function and the measurements he previously made, Feathers has Wallace climb the walls and enter an air vent to get inside. A security laser and Wallace's outstretched arms briefly impedes the journey, but an opportune yawn by Wallace allows Feathers to get him to cross the barrier. A remote-controlled helmet with a grappler attachment allows Feathers to grab the diamond with some difficulty. However, just as he starts sending Wallace back, a stray tile in the ceiling gives way, causing the diamond to swing into one of the lasers and sets off the alarm, waking Wallace up in the process. Panicked, Feathers sends Wallace out the window and down the walls of the museum back to the house. He then traps Wallace inside a wardrobe before attempting to make off with the diamond.
Just as he leaves, he is confronted by Gromit brandishing a rolling pin. Feathers simply pulls out a gun, forcing the dog into the wardrobe with Wallace. However, Gromit manages to hack the trousers, allowing them (wardrobe and all) to chase Feathers out of the bedroom and into the foyer, where Feathers leaps onto a moving model train. A chaotic chase around the house follows as Feathers intermittently uses his gun to try to stop the two while also activating various switches to try to foil the pair. Wallace manages to steal the gun and get out of the trousers, but he is repeatedly prevented from grabbing Feathers. Feathers disconnects the engine from the cars Gromit is riding and switches it to a dead end track, forcing Gromit to lay down new track so he can follow Feathers. Just as his escape seems imminent, Wallace grabs the engine, and the wandering trousers step onto the track in front of Feathers, sending him flying into the air and straight into a bottle that Gromit uses to trap him. He is arrested and subsequently imprisoned in the West Wallaby Zoo.
Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo
Feathers later returns in Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo as the main villain in which the imprisoned penguin attempts to takes over the zoo in order to create a diamond mine. Feathers captures baby animals in order to force their parents to do his bidding. He uses remote controls to control many of his inventions - including his boiler, helicopter, toy penguins, and mining machine. In the final level, Feathers uses an invention called the exoskeleton which fire missiles and wields buzz-saws. In the game's conclusion, Feathers is defeated yet he still tries to make one last escape; however when he exits from his hideout to leave the zoo, the other zoo animals recapture him and take him back to the prison cell.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
- Vengeance Most Fowl ignores the events of Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo and all other appearances that Feathers makes in other films in the franchise.
Feathers is first seen in a flashback, tied up in Wallace and Gromit's kitchen as they contact the police to report his theft of the Blue Diamond and subsequent capture. After undergoing trial and being sentenced to life imprisoned in a zoo, Feathers keeps himself active as he plots vengeance on the pair.
Years later, he is spurred to action upon seeing a news report promoting Wallace's new Gnome Improvements gardening business, anchored by Wallace's Norbot invention. Utilizing contraband he has gathered over the years, Feathers constructs an extended robotic arm that he uses to try to hack into Wallace's computer using one of the guards' desktop. His plans are nearly foiled when a stray feather triggers a guard to sneeze, but he is able to use the arm to grab a handkerchief and suppress it. He then manages to access Wallace's computer but is blocked by a security firewall. He tries guessing various passwords before correctly discerning the answer: "cheese." He then encounters a CAPTCHA screen asking him to identify all photos of cheese: he selects two, but is puzzled when he sees the third option is the Moon. Shrugging it off, he gets into Wallace's computer and finds his program for the Norbot, using it to reprogram the bot into becoming evil. He then orders it to build copies of itself. His work done, Feathers stores the arm away and relaxes in his bed, his plans set in motion.
The Norbots construct a submarine using parts stolen from customers, and travel through the sewers beneath Lancashire to the zoo, where Feathers awaits while petting a seal. He boards the submarine, taking a moment to punch a Norbot playing annoying bagpiping music, and prepares to head in before noticing Gromit observing him from nearby. He orders a Norbot to break the branch Gromit is standing on before departing the zoo in the submarine. They head to Wallace's house, where the Norbots tie up Wallace and subdue Gromit when he arrives. Feathers reveals himself to Wallace, who mistakes him for a chicken at first due to wearing his old disguise, and reveals the truth of his plans: years ago, while Wallace and Gromit were calling the police, Feathers was able to swap the Blue Diamond for a turnip, hiding the real diamond in a teapot that has been sitting unused on their shelf since. The entire plan with the evil Norbots was an elaborate scheme to ruin Wallace's reputation, culminating in framing Wallace for the Blue Diamond's theft, leaving Feathers to escape with the diamond himself―what Wallace declares to be "Vengeance most foul!" He has the Norbots imprison Wallace and Gromit in their closet before escaping.
However, Wallace and Gromit escape and chase Feathers across town to the canals, where Feathers steals a narrowboat and begins making his way to the border to escape. While fleeing the two, Feathers overhears PC Mukherjee spot him and quickly dons a nun's disguise, which is enough to fool the dimwitted Chief Inspector Mackintosh. However, he quickly finds his army thinned when Wallace builds a makeshift invention that uses projectile boomerang boots to reset the evil Norbots back to good. Having lost an advantage, Feathers makes a quick stop at a repair shop and upgrades his narrowboat's speed, but Gromit lassos a rope onto Feathers' boat, allowing them to stay connected, and uses a winch to bring them closer. Feathers grabs a cheese knife and cuts the rope, but Gromit jumps onto the boat. The pair engage in a fight, with Feathers losing his disguise (and slapping Gromit for seeing him naked). As they cross the aqueduct towards the border, he sees the police shut the gate, blocking his escape, so he tries to make the boat jump the aqueduct's barrier, causing it to teeter off the edge with Gromit clinging to the bow for dear life. To Feathers' dismay, Gromit reveals he has the bag with the diamond in it, so Feathers mimes an offer to help Gromit survive if he gives him the diamond. After some encouragement from Wallace, Gromit does so, but Feathers immediately sees the opportunity to escape on a passing train and jumps off the aqueduct using an umbrella as a parachute. Just as he gloats his victory, he discovers that Gromit had swapped the Blue Diamond for a turnip―the same trick Feathers had pulled―and he collapses on the bed of the freight car in defeat as the train carries him off to parts unknown.
Other appearances
According to Nick Park, Feathers made a very brief appearance in A Close Shave, but he did not say when. Whilst Gromit is reading a book in prison, the spine indicates that it is a "Penguin Classic" and a picture of Feathers can be seen on the spine (as a reference to Penguin Books), as well as some graffiti on the wall saying: "Feathers was 'ere". He can later be seen proper in the background wearing his chicken disguise just before Gromit plunges off of the 2,000 foot cliff in the Sidecar.
Feathers appeared in a television show called When Penguins Turn in Cracking Contraptions "The Tellyscope".
He makes a cameo appearance in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. After Victor says "Eat carrot, bunny boy!", Gromit flies in on the toy plane. Feathers can be seen randomly sitting in the decoration of a building to Gromit's left.
It is indicated that he has escaped yet again in A Matter of Loaf and Death, due to a ladder, escape rope and a new wanted poster seen as Wallace, Gromit, Piella and Fluffles enter West Wallaby Zoo. In addition, two penguins of his kind can be seen briefly in the background as Piella lands in the Crocodile enclosure and is eaten.
In Flushed Away, Feathers can be seen on an arcade fighting game in Ratropolis where he is fighting Preston. His picture is also seen amongst other imagery at the front of the Jammy Dodger.
In Shaun the Sheep Movie, a photo of Feathers is shown on the board where A. Trumper keeps photos of all the animals he has captured.
In Early Man, Feathers can be spotted when the duck is flying the team into the stadium.[1] There is also a drawing of him wearing his red glove in the end credits.
At the end of Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Feathers can briefly be seen in the background in his chicken disguise when the chickens prepare to break into a farm which has captured several chickens and put them in cages. After they prepare to strike, however, Feathers proceeds to hide.
Feathers appears in the Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit video game as one of the the characters that can be displayed on the screen in the minigame "Imagi-Matic".
Trivia
- He is seen many times in the photos used in the Christmas Fan-Pack that could be downloaded from the main website.
- Feathers' surname comes from a budgie Nick Park's sister had in his childhood called Toots McGraw.[2]
- Feathers McGraw was never named in the dialogue for The Wrong Trousers, his name only being shown on the cover of the newspaper Gromit reads at the end of the film. In Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo, Wallace says his name several times, and in Vengeance Most Fowl, he is openly name-checked several times by various characters.
- In 2005, Aardman's storage facility caught fire, destroying almost all of Feathers' puppets from The Wrong Trousers, with only four surviving to this day. Feathers' model when he was in a bottle at the end was featured in a YouTube Short[3] by the official Wallace and Gromit YouTube channel.[4]
- With the exception of both Wallace and Gromit, Feathers is one of two major characters to appear in more than one film in the franchise, the other being PC Mackintosh.
- The only time Feathers made a sound was frustrated noises whilst being locked up in The Wrong Trousers. He also shushes at the viewer in a Wallace & Gromit trailer for The Traitors.[5]
- In Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo, Feathers moves his mouth in one of the cutscenes. This is the only time his mouth is seen opened.
- In Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Feathers is the first true villain to partially succeed during the events of the film (though Piella Bakewell was technically more successful in her evil plot overall prior to the film's events), successfully escaping the zoo, but failing to obtain the blue diamond or frame Wallace.
- For The Wrong Trousers, Nick Park used the character of Mrs. Danvers from Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca as inspiration for Feathers' and Gromit's dynamic, primarily in how Danvers gaslights Joan Fontaine's character and how she seems to "glide" around the house. For Vengeance Most Fowl, he additionally looked to Robert De Niro as Max Cady in Cape Fear; the shot of Feathers doing pull-ups in the zoo is a parody of a similar shot in Cape Fear.[6]
- According to Nick Park, Feathers' cameos in other Aardman films, including Wallace & Gromit projects, are easter eggs rather than confirmations of his escape, as the studio did not originally plan on bringing him back as an antagonist.[7]
- Park and Vengeance Most Fowl co-director Merlin Crossingham are open to the idea of a third Wallace & Gromit film with Feathers to complete a "Feathers film trifecta", but only if they can come up with a good idea. Both have shot down the idea of a prequel origin story; Crossingham compares it to Darth Vader from Star Wars being a villain for all of his childhood only to be given emotional layers with the prequel trilogy, while Park sees pursuing an origin story as creatively lazy.[6]
- Feathers McGraw made no appearances in Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures.
Gallery
References
- ↑ https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/how-nick-park-hid-wallace-and-gromit-in-early-man-his-latest-movie/
- ↑ Near the end of the commentary for The Wrong Trousers.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XUrka7qLpVI
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/@WallaceAndGromitOfficial
- ↑ https://youtu.be/vulBCU3A5oI?si=4jUDAaBypzadZyP9
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Wallace & Gromit: The Story Behind Feather McGraw’s Return." Vulture, 6 January 2025.
- ↑ TikTok interview with Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham